


i never knew what love was for (but you said “give me your hand and you will see”)

by omgstyles



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cat, Fluff, Love, M/M, One Shot, Summer, beach boy, surfer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-08
Updated: 2013-02-08
Packaged: 2017-11-28 15:25:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/675944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omgstyles/pseuds/omgstyles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall has more freckles than he can count and there is not a single one Harry hasn’t kissed. (Harry falls in love too easily and always ends up heartbroken. Niall never fell in love before)</p>
            </blockquote>





	i never knew what love was for (but you said “give me your hand and you will see”)

**Author's Note:**

> I guess one day a wave of inspiration hit me and I started writing parts of this story on my notebook and it actually took me more than two months to finish the whole thing haha but i’m kinda proud of myself because this is different from everything i’ve wrote before, it’s more narration than dialogue. I don’t know what else to say so I hope you enjoy! x

-

The first time Niall sees Harry, the younger boys is sitting on his surfboard just floating in calm waters. The yet pale morning contrasting with his sunset skin.

Niall’s at this little beach in this little town where everyone is tanned and the rain almost never falls, but when it does, there’s no one in the streets. He’s been dragged there and he didn’t even knew this place existed. 

The sun is rising and the boy is coming out of water with the surfboard under his arm. He has a tired look on his face, as if he woke up really early just to see the sun coming up but at the same time a small grin as if it had been worth it. 

It takes Niall one moment to realize how beautiful Harry is. 

Because he’s all gilded chocolate curls and heart shaped lips, with pale green eyes bathed by the moonlight and a long long torso. He’s got tattoos all over his arms and necklaces around his neck. And his soul screams  _fall in love with me_. 

Harry lived in the same little town all his life, doing the same things, dreaming the same old dreams.

Although Niall tries, he can’t help but feel something different inside. And it scares him. 

Because he traveled around the world and he  _knows;_ he knows what people say when they want something and he knows how everything can change one minute to the other. And he has a bitter soul like cold coffee and a heart guarded with seven keys. 

The hours have passed and the stars are starting to shine but they somehow bump into each other and Niall can feel that strange unknown heat emerging from Harry, and pulling him closer and closer. Niall wants to runaway because he never felt something like this… he never felt something.

There’s a fear of not knowing what to expect creeping in that screams  _run before it’s too late_ but at the same time the curiosity of wanting to taste and discover something new that makes him want to stay.

Harry gives him a small smile and a quiet “I’m so sorry”, Niall says “No problem” but he stays there looking at the other boy while Harry looks back at him. They are hypnotized with each other and you can tell something just happened in that moment.

The green eyed boy invites Niall to walk with him and he accepts. He’s glad Harry asked because he doesn’t want to say goodbye, although they never said  _hello_.

Harry’s velvet voice lulls Niall into a stupor and neither of them notice but minutes, hours and days pass like the wind in autumn’s noons.

Niall tells him about the places he went, the stories he heard and the people he met. Harry tells the blond about his friends, how he feels every time he sees the sunrise and that his mom’s cooking is the best in the world.

They never mention Niall’s past,  _never_. Because he never had a place to call home or someone to share his worries. Niall traveled around the world and never created bounds with anyone ‘cause nobody cares and he’s never going to stay too long anyways.

And Harry has this wild innocence floating around him; his eyes tell what he’s thinking but his mouth whispers things Niall never heard before.

So he wonders why have  _they_  broke Harry’s heart as many times as he got into a plane and nothing makes sense to him because he never gave his heart to anyone for it to be broken.

“Aren’t ya bored yet?”

“No. You’re the most interesting person I’ve ever met, I could listen to you talk for forever.” Harry has his chin resting on his left hand and there’s not a hint of lie in his eyes.

The inside of Niall’s body burns because Harry talks and he means every word that slips out of his mouth and Niall listens as his heart jumps a tiny bit and he believes it, he believes what his heart is secretly telling him.

And when the time to leave comes, Niall screams and begs and cries. Says that he’s finally happy here and promises that he’ll be a good boy like he’s always been. He’s hopeless. But it surprises him when they let him stay and tell him to call if anything happens. So he and Harry get drunk that night and he almost forgets his promise.

Harry has a lovely little blue house, it’s cozy and near the beach but the city isn’t very big so it’s near downtown as well. Within a week Niall feels like he had always belonged there, before he was just lost in the world.

And Harry tells Niall that he doesn’t need to do the dishes but the blond boy does it anyways, because Harry’s such a good lad and he’s always helping everyone that Niall feels like he should do something for him.

Niall meets Harry’s parents two weeks after he moved in to the green eyed boy’s couch. They live at the beachfront in a little wooden house with lots of trees around and they’re as lovely as Harry told him.

As much as Niall grumbles and snorts when Harry invites him to walk on the beach at 5 am and takes half an hour to actually get out of the couch he can’t lie and say he doesn’t enjoy these few moments they have. Because when Harry’s eyes get lost in the horizon and a big smile spreads on his lips it gets easier for Niall to let everything go and just be.

One morning during one of their walks, Harry finds a nest of turtle behind a sand dune and Niall gets so excited his eyes sparkle with joy and the curly haired boy promises they’ll go there everyday till the little eggs break. And everyday Harry takes a big flashlight with him, just in case.

After a week of a lot of anxiety, from Niall’s part, the little turtles finally manage to break their eggs and quickly crawl towards the immense ocean. The blond knows most of those baby turtles won’t survive and just a few will be the lucky ones but this doesn’t stop him from thinking it’s the most magical moment in his entire life.

It surprises him that when he looks to the side Harry’s the one with watery eyes. So he fondly smiles and when the younger boy opens his arms to him, he hugs him tightly and whishes for time to stop. Because he knows there’s something changing inside of him.

Before he realizes, Harry is slowly lifting his chin and kissing him, pure and simple but it warms his whole body making his knees get wobbly. When their tongues finally touch it sends chills all over Niall’s skin and it’s the most amazing feeling the blond has ever felt. And he thinks things will get awkward between them after they break the kiss, both boys breathless and numb; but it doesn’t because they just keep standing there, arms wrapped around each other and eyes fixed in the sky.

The days pass and Niall tries to look at the Harry the same way as before but he can’t. He swears every time he looks at the green eyed lad he somehow  _glows_ and he is suddenly so attractive in a  _kiss-me-again_  way. They sit at the porch every day and Harry reads poems and sings to him and Niall always smiles.

Eventually they kiss again, and again and again. Niall doesn’t regret staying when he realizes that he’s drowning in Harry’s words, drowning in Harry’s touches, drowning in Harry.

And he’ll never forget the night Harry shyly invites him to sleep on his bed because  _“Come on Ni! I know you’re uncomfortable on the couch, come cuddle with me.”_  And the night after that, when they make love for the first time and Harry is so gentle and caring, making sure Niall enjoys every second of it.

There are nights where they simply lie naked on the beach, being touched only by the light of the moon and by each other’s fingertips. Niall has more freckles than he can count and there is not a single one Harry hasn’t kissed. They explore and memorize each other’s bodies like it’s a map that’s fading away too quickly, they have an urge to touch and kiss and feel.

And there are nights where Harry clings on Niall like he’s afraid the blond boy will leave him any minute and never come back. And Niall understands why he does that. Because Harry loves with all his heart and gives himself too much and every time his heart is broken again. Niall thinks Harry would’ve turned bitter because of everything but the younger boy still believes in true love and soulmates, and Niall knows that because he can hear in the way Harry reads poems, like he’s longing for them to become true.

Days, weeks, months pass and they buy a plant, which eventually dies and Niall cries. And every Saturday they watch Harry’s favorite movie and eat a pot of ice cream together. Niall starts looking for a job because Harry told him he can’t stay at home all day doing nothing, but the only thing he knows how to do is to play the guitar and sing, so Harry’s father tells him to go to the local pubs and one of them hires Niall to perform there three days per week. They don’t pay much but it’s enough for him and Harry. When Niall performs there for the first time Harry takes his parents and friends to watch the blond play, everyone sings along and claps at the end of every song, by the end of the night the smile on Niall’s lips shines brighter than the sunlight and Harry doesn’t get tired of saying how proud he is of him. Finally after watching plenty of videos of kittens on the internet, they decide to adopt one and Harry treats the cat like it’s their child and  _“Look Ni, she’s got your eyes!”_ but it’s okay because Niall really loves Caramel and he really really loves Harry. And he knows they love him too because they tell him everyday, even though Caramel’s  _“I love you”_  sounds more like she’s asking for food.

“Let’s get married!” Harry bursts one morning while they’re eating breakfast.

“When?”

“Now! Tomorrow! I don’t know! I just know that I want you to be mine… I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He sounds nervous, like he doubts Niall wants to be with him.

Niall smiles and grabs the butter to put on his toast.

“We could go to Vegas and get married in one of those little chapels with a chubby Elvis and…”

“Sounds perfect to me.” Niall kisses him and it tastes like love and the eggs Harry just ate.

The curly haired boy breathes relieved and smiles Niall’s favorite smile.

And the next day they grab the car and go to Vegas. It’s a long trip but everything is worth when they come home a few days later with matching rings on their fingers and being able to call each other “my husband”.

-

Niall is dreaming. He knows that because he’s suddenly seven years old again and things like this don’t happen in real life. He looks at his trainers and at the dirty concrete floor before he looks around and realizes that he’s in the middle of a street and there are a few trees around but he can’t see more because there’s a thick layer of mist covering everything.

There’s a man coming in Niall’s direction, he’s wearing a long black coat and he is so big, almost bigger than the trees. When the man gets a few centimeters away from Niall he crouches down so they are the same height, smiles at the little boy and starts talking with him. The big man transmits a wave of tranquility to Niall and makes him feel like everything is going to be alright.

Niall can’t stop staring at his eyes… big blue eyes, that remind him of his very own eyes, with long eyelashes like he never saw before. And the blond think it’s weird but when the man starts slowly bashing his eyelids at him Niall sighs so deep that his lungs hurts and he finally can hear what the man’s saying.

“What do you want to be when you grow up, Niall?”

He is mesmerized by the sweetness in the man’s voice and he doesn’t know if he answers the question or stares at the man for a little bit longer. But before he can say anything, he feels something in the pocket of his jeans so he grabs what’s in there and lets out a surprised gasp because it’s a photo of a couple. The boy in the picture is looking at the girl with heart is his eyes and Niall thinks her smile is the most beautiful thing in the world. And somehow he knows those are his mom and dad, even though he had never seen them before.

He stares at the photograph for what seems like forever so when Niall finally fixes his baby blue eyes on the man in front of him and decides to answer his question he looks one more time at the picture and wishes for that. The way his dad looks at his mom like she’s the air that he breathes, like she’s the only thing that matters in the world.

“I want to be loved.” He whispers.

-

When Niall wakes up in the middle of the night he wonders why he can’t remember if this dream has happened before in his life or only in his mind and why his breathing is so fast and uneven. Niall’s trembling body ends up waking Harry, who’s curled up in the blond’s chest.

“Bad dream?” he sighs into Niall’s neck.

“No… just a dream…” the older boy says pulling Harry closer to him and kissing his forehead.

They stay in that position for a long time and when Niall is almost falling asleep again, Harry shifts his body on bed so he can face the other boy.

“Niall?”

“Hm…”

“I love you.” Harry whispers, his fringe somehow tickling Niall’s nose making him pucker it.

“I love you too.” He whispers back opening one eye to find Harry already looking at him. The sound of his soft chuckles makes Niall happy, so he kisses the other boy until they are both with swollen lips and light hearts.

As they slowly fall asleep Niall doesn’t wish for anything that night because – maybe the house is too small for the three of them sometimes, but it’s home, and maybe they don’t have enough money to put gas in the car all the time but they have legs and they can walk, like they do almost every morning at 5 am and maybe his heart shrinks when he gets home late at night to find Harry sleeping on the couch waiting for him but it pays off when he wakes up with the biggest smile on his face, glad that Niall is home and they can have a midnight snack – he is finally loved and above all, he learned how to love.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> If you wanna see a picture of how I pictured Caramel click [here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelbob/273867141/sizes/l/in/photostream/), because the cat really has blue eyes with a little bit of yellow (i’m still crying)  
> I got the title from Brigther Than Sunshine by Aqualung. 7 Keys by Aqualung and Home by Gabrielle Aplin also inspired me while writing this.


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